I noticed this your 8th posting. If you are new to Model Ts, I would recommend properly servicing your stock 6 volt system which for a stock or slightly modified engine will work well. See the article by Milt Webb on Six Volt Battery Performance located at: http://milttheinstructor.com/Six-Volt_Battery_Performance.pdf

Just having the smaller 12 volt starter cables will often be enough to cause you problems. And if you have recently acquired the car -- folks often replace the old thicker 6 volt cables with the newer 12 volt cables thinking they are making things better -- but they are not.

If you are familiar with Ts and have already weighed the pro's and con's some straight forward instructions are located at: http://scmodeltford.org/Tech%20Pages/electrical_system.htm and click on converting to 12 volts. Note -- when I just checked it the page is all white. But if you highlight the page the "white text" will show up and you can read it or copy it. I will try it again from another computer to see if it is just my old computer of if we need to send a note to the South Carolina web master or not.

Please remember that I stock bendixes. Because probably it wont be long until you ruin yours. I just sent 20 bendixes to Germany so I am a little low right now, but I will still be able to furnish you with one

Please remember that I stock bendixes. Because probably it wont be long until you ruin yours. I just sent 20 bendixes to Germany so I am a little low right now, but I will still be able to furnish you with one

Thank all of you for the information. This has been a excellent source of information for me.

I am very new to this forum and have only been doing research for about 3 months now. I havent purchased my 26 coupe yet as I am trying to make sure I ask all the right questions now so that I make a educated decision on the purchase thats getting closer and closer.

My plans for the T are very simple and more than likely will never leave the island at our beach home.

My dad always wanted a T but told me once he had fours boys instead so in his honor I am going to get one and leave it to my son.

I am very fortunate to have a friend thats been around the Ts for over 40 years. I wasnt able to ask him the 12 volt question as based on what I have read tonight I am almost certain he would have hit me over the head for asking.

No need for hitting over the head, in general the the generator and starter work better on 6 volt than they do on 12,

once you have everything setup properly it works great. ive been using 32cp 6v bulb and find them plenty bright for night driving so ong as the generator is charging a bit.

if your car has poor wiring everywhere a complete rewire kit is available quite cheaply and pretty much solves all your electrical connection problems. this is a great place to learn, but in the end its up to you to gain the experience!

You will need to change all your light bulbs to 12 volts. To protect the Bendix you will need to use a skinny 12 volt style cable about 6ft long. On my 24 touring I use two long cables, both positive and ground, on my 27 coupe one was sufficient. The starter doesn't mind the 12 volts but unless you add some voltage drop with the long skinny cable, it slams the Bendix and can wreck it. You can buy a real 12 volt starter from Becker in Norwalk Ohio, for $145 plus shipping. He modifies a 12 volt GM starter to fit the Model T directly.

The generator must be reset to put out 10 amps max. If the third brush is not reset it will overheat very quickly and burn out. If you are not a purist, the generator can be replaced with an 12 volt alternator also available from Becker for the same$145.

12 volt batteries, size 35, are much easier to obtain than 6 volt batteries and your starter turns over much more nicely. If you magneto is dead 12 volts will give you good performance.

In order to have the same cranking power at 6V as you would at 12V you must supply twice the amperage. At 6V, not only must the cables be heavier but its much more important to be sure every connection is clean and tight. This is one of the reasons why manufacturers switched to 12V systems.

Additionally a bad connection that drops 0.1 V in a 6 V system is much more serious than one that drops 0.1 V in a 12 V system.

Yes the 6 V system that came with the T is adequate to do the job, but the cabling must be near perfect for it to perform well.

Experience shows that getting a six volt system to work properly is no big deal. I have no trouble starting a car, a pickup, and a tractor on six volts. In fact, your T should start easily without a starter. If it doesn't, fix THAT.

The biggest secret to a good 6volt system is new wiring made by a reputable manufacturer. If you have a good switch, and a good battery, generator and starter, there is no need for 12 volts, unless you want to ruin your bendix.

There is only one reason I can think of to convert. That is if your magneto isn't working. With a good magneto, everything else on a stock Model T is made for 6 volts and works fine if everything is in good condition. It is hard on the starter to use 12 volts and as posted above all lights have to be changed. Now if your magneto is not working, there are distributors which work fine on 6 volts, you just need a 6 volt coil to go with the distributor. As far as tru-fire or e-timer go, you will need to find out from the manufacturer whether they will work on 6 volts.

Now if you are going to put something modern like a GPS or a radio on the car, then you might need 12 volts. Norm

I had my mentor tell me I needed to go to 12 volts to make everything run better. I have found out it is just as easy to get the six volt system correct and wind up with a really good running T. I have both six and twelve volts in a couple of Model T's and the six volt car actually runs better than the 12 volt, set up the exact same way, both with distributors. I wanted to use a GPS and cell phone so we made 6 to 12 volt converters with low amperage outputs to use with the six volt cars. Best of both worlds.

I converted my touring car to 12 volts. It already had an alternator, so I just had to switch out the voltage regulator. Of course all the light bulbs had to be changed, and the battery. I rewired the starter to run on 12 volts. It works fine. While I was at it, I rebuilt the starter. I put a ballast resistor in series with the coil (I have a distributor) because I am too cheap to by a new 12-volt coil.

Why did I do it? I wanted to run some modern stuff, such as my GPS, charge my iPhone, and bright LED stop light/turn indicators. I tried to run my GPS on 6 volts, but was unsuccessful. I also tried a 6 volt to 12 volt converter, but it could not provide the current I needed. Otherwise I would have left it at 6 volts. Model T's run fine, if properly maintained, on 6 volts. None of the conversion I did is irreversible, so if a future owner wants to convert it back, it is easily done.

My I phone nor my Garmin GPS will work on 6 volts. About 9 volts is what I needed for them to work. I, too, use LEDs for turn and stop lights. Using the converter works well and has enough amperage to do all of the above. The flashers have to be electronic.

Looks like the six volt folks are winning this thread, so I'll put in one more plug for 12 volts: Even with no generator the 12 volt battery will hold a charge and you can run the Model T ignition system for more than a month, including using the electric starter.

Ted, my generator hasn't worked in 5 years. I drive all over the place in mine. Even did a weekend tour without recharging and I am usually too lazy to hand crank. Mine will easily run a month and still start on starter with 6 volt.